The Ghosts of St Rule's

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The ruins in the foreground of this photograph are what remains of the Cathedral Church of St Andrews which was founded in 1160.  The square tower at the back is the tower of St Rule's Church, otherwise known as St Regulus's Tower, so named to celebrate the saint who was reputed to have brought the bones of St Andrews from Patras in Greece to Saint Andrews in Fife, Scotland. The tower is 108 feet high and affords clear views of Fife and Tayside on a sunny day once you recover your breath from the climb.

The Prior of St Andrews in 1394 was one Robert de Montrose.  His duties were to oversee the lands and property of the cathedral and lead the monastic community, leaving the bishop (Walter Trail at that time) to take care of the spiritual and political concerns of the see.

A monk called Thomas Platter was among the community at that time, but, according to accounts of the period, was totally unsuited to monastic life.  In contrast to the good and pious Prior Montrose, Thomas Platter was often absent from his duties in the cathedral and did not take his calling seriously.

Prior Montrose often had to reprimand the wayward monk and this may well have built up resentment in Thomas Platter.  Things came to a head, however, when the Earl Douglas and his wife visited the Cathedral to present it with a costly treasure.  One of the Lady Douglas's beautiful young attendants caught Thomas's roving eye, and he tried to seduce her.  Prior Robert made sure the amorous monk was punished for this deviation from his vows of chastity and that he did penance for a period of months, being kept apart from his brother monks.

The good Prior was in the habit of climbing St Rules Tower each night to meditate.  One night, under cover of darkness, Thomas Platter climbed the stairs behind him and when the good Prior reached the top, Thomas Platter rushed up the last few stairs and stabbed him.  Prior Montrose fell to his death from the top of St Rule's Tower and we are told that Thomas Platter ended his days starving to death in St Andrews Castle's bottle dungeon.

Since that night people have claimed to have seen the spirit of Thomas Platter both day and night in the cathedral grounds, although sightings seem to have become less frequent since his bones were reburied on the south side of St Rule's church in 1898 after they had been disturbed by an archeological dig.

The spirit of the Prior Montrose, on the other hand, has occasionally been seen within the cathedral precincts or looking down from the top of the tower, but anyone who sees his ghostly figure need not be alarmed because this phantom brings nothing but good health and good fortune to anyone who encounters him.